The challenge

Provide essential cooling during a renovation

Spain’s meat industry is thriving. Avinatur, supplier of fresh chicken products to Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona, is one of the leaders. Having signed a new deal with Mercadona, it was renovating and expanding its slaughterhouse in the south of Spain to meet demand.

During construction, Avinatur needed temporary cooling for the poultry cutting plant. This cooling needed to meet strict requirements. During the cutting process, temperatures must be no higher than 6°C; once cut, the meat must go straight into a refrigerator to protect it from contamination. We knew we could meet these needs.

Project fact file

< 6
°C

Temperature in cutting plant

400
kW

Size of chiller

4
months

Duration of rental

The solution

A consistent cooling system that ticked all the boxes

Given that the Purullena meat processing plant was 500 km from our nearest base – and the fact that there were 200 contractors on the site – we sought the most reliable, tamper-proof cooling system available. For the cutting plant, our cooling was made up of a 400 kW chiller with two 200 kW circuits, and three 50 kW AHLT units. More than 1,000 litres of glycol (30 per cent mixture) was used to supply water at minus 6°C and air between 2° and 3°C. It was a very stable system, giving Avinatur ultimate peace of mind.

the aggreko difference

Our temporary cooling, heating and power systems are incredibly reliable.

The impact

Production starts and contractual obligations are met

With our cooling in place, Avinatur started processing chicken meat while the expansion of its slaughterhouse was still underway. It meant they could meet contractual obligations to Mercadona and sustain a great relationship with their largest customer. Our cooling was in place for four months while the permanent refrigeration system was being set up.

“We proposed a few alternatives to Avinatur, settling on a very efficient, reliable cooling system that met their stringent temperature requirements.”